Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman Essay
Women: More than just Objects In Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman, Eça de Quieroz, the author, offers his insight on how gender roles operate within the relationship between men and women. In each of the relationships depicted by Quieroz, the common and underlying theme revolves around the tendency of men to engage in romantic relationships, solely on the basis of a woman’s aesthetic beauty. Furthermore, by engaging in these types of superficial relationships, men are ultimately entailed to face harsh repercussions. By reiterating this theme in each of his stories, Quieroz manifests the notion that men have been naturally trained to objectify women. By judging women exclusively on their exterior features, rather than on their interior values, men are not regarding women as human beings, but rather as inanimate objects. By ignoring the characteristics of women, men are also prone to become victims of the negative traits in women. Lastly, Quieroz purports that in order to expunge this ignorant habit of objectifying women, men must endure a shocking, yet enlightening, experience in which they are exposed to and victimized by the negative characteristics of women. In Quieroz’s Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman, Macário objectifies Luisa by being infatuated with her exterior beauty of Luisa. The first time Macário glimpsed Luisa was when he, from his balcony, noticed a “blonde girl” emerging from the window of the opposite building. Macário was immediately infatuated with her ethereal beauty and thought, “the whiteness of her skin had something of the transparency of old porcelain and her profile had a pure line to it” [p. 92]. While Macário had barely glimpsed Luisa, “within five days he was mad about her” [p. 93] and she was constantly occupying his thoughts. When Macário finally converses with Luisa at a gathering, he is certain “they are destined for marriage” [p. 97]. By thinking that they were destined to be married, it is evident that Luisa is just